Today we start our first contest, which does not have any kind of prize but will for sure be funny for our readers. Can you locate these details or items and tell us where they are in the city?

Yes, we know it’s not easy… but here are some hints: all the pictures were taken in a very reduced area, three streets very close to each other and located in the city centre. They all refer to very different times in Seville’s history: one element dates back to several centuries, another one of them belongs to the 20th and the last one is the symbol of the 21st century in the city.

So… who wants to participate?

Seville is a city where you can see fashion everywhere. One may say that everyone is a model in the city, especially on the bright spring days that the city centre or the Feria site get packed with crowds of people in their new clothes, ready to enjoy the nice weather while see and being seen in the best spots of the city. However, it is not just something that we enjoy during the first warm days in April. In fact, the third big festival of the city is about to start: the ‘Velá de Santa Ana‘ is being held in Triana until next Sunday.

A catwalk on the Triana Bridge, by Antonio Rull / flickr

The best way to start the Velá 2009 was with a very original event: a fashion show over a catwalk on the Triana Bridge. If you were late for the show, there is no problem: the bridge is still on its place, ready to welcome you in your new clothes and to lead you to the Velá site, right on the Calle Betis. Enjoy it!

Today’s tapa is an easy, classical one… that is always hot, both because of the temperature it’s served and because of its ingredients: tonight we’re having ‘Gambas al ajillo’, roughly translated as ‘garlic-flavoured prawns’. Here’s what you need:

- 250 grams of peeled prawns (the bigger, the better, as they shrink when they’re cooked)

- 3 garlic cloves

- olive oil, a piece of chili and salt

On an earthware pan (or saucepan) place the slice garlic cloves and the chili and cover them with olive oil. Heat them and keep stirring until the garlic is brown. Add the prawns and salt and stir for a minute. Then cover the pan and let them cook for a couple of minutes. Serve them in the earthware pan (and be careful not to burn yourself!).

It’s very important to buy some good, traditional bread that can be dipped in the garlic, chili flavoured oil once we’ve eaten all the prawns. Gambas al ajillo are not very recommendable for a romantic dinner, unless your lover likes garlic breath, but they’re delicious in any case. ¡Ñam!

Among all the cultural works that are based in Seville, the most famous worldwide is, with no doubt, Carmen. Originally a novel by French writer Prosper Merimée, its adaptation to the opera by Georges Bizet in 1875 has produced one of the most significant French operas of all times. Many directors have seen in it the perfect basis for their films, as some remarkable films by Ernst Lubitsch or Carlos Saura were based on the novel.

The plot is based on the tragic love story of Don José, a soldier member of the Company of Dragoons, who falls in love with gypsy cigarrette maker Carmen. This stormy relationship gets to a fatal end… as most of Romantic stories. It’ll be your task to find out more by reading the novel, enjoying the opera or watching any of the cinema versions, like the most recent adaptation by Spanish director Vicente Aranda, who chose Sevillan actress Paz Vega for the role of Carmen.

By the way, there is a statue of the cigarrette maker in Seville in a very significant place: right opposite the Plaza de Toros, showing an expectant Carmen that still waits for a torero to come out of the bullfighting ring.

July will be the perfect month for dance in Seville or, to be exact, in the remains of Italica, the roman city that was the most important neighbour to our Hispalis two thousand years ago.

Although our relationship hasn’t been so fluent for all these last twenty centuries (in fact, Seville has grown to be the fourth city in Spain while Italica was abandoned), local and visiting dance fans will be going to the old Roman neighbour city several times this month. This year’s edition is special, for it is the first time after 1993 that the Festival will be held in its original place: Italica’s roman anfitheatre, the perfect setting for such a singular programme.

Next Monday is the first day of the 2009 Italica International Dance Festival, one of the most significant and popular dance festivals in Spain. Lasting from July 6th to the 31st, the Festival will gather figures so important as Sara Baras, José Martínez, Els Comediants, the Víctor Ullate ballet and international choreographers Michael Clark and Kader Attou.

We’ll keep you updated with more news about the shows. However, here you have some practical info that will be useful for your visit to Italica:

Location Italica archeological site is located at Avenida de Extremadura 2, in the town of Santiponce. You can also locate it with this Google Maps link.

Transportation Special shuttle buses will link Sevilla’s Plaza de Armas bus station with Italica. Here are the times.

Tickets You can buy them at El Corte Inglés (both stores and their Internet site), at Teatro de la Maestranza for Víctor Ullate ballet or calling +34 902 400 222 (Spanish national call charges apply). Tickets start at €15.

You can get further info at the Festival’s website (in Spanish). ¡A bailar!